Entries in Thai food
(3)

Thailand is a country with an incredibly diverse variation of regional dishes. At Thai restaurants outside Thailand, the food is often lumped into a single category: Thai cuisine. In Thailand however, you'll find that food at restaurants is often grouped by region, many restaurants only serving food from one particular region of Thai cuisine. While there are countless variations of Thai food by region, there are four main categories; Isaan northeastern, Lanna northern, Bangkok central, and southern Thai.

Isaan food, also known as the cuisine originating from the northeastern region of Thailand, is one of the most popular and widely consumed varieties of food in the entire country. Sticky rice, which is steamed and is much more glutinous than regular jasmine rice, is the main staple grain in Isaan. This variation of Thai cuisine includes lots of fresh vegetable & meat salads, as well as meat and fish often roasted over charcoal. Some popular examples include somtam, a combination of shredded green papaya, tomatoes, peanuts, chilies, garlic, fish sauce, fermented fish sauce (optional), lime juice, and palm sugar; kaw moo yang, grilled pork neck that’s sliced into bite sized pieces and served with a chili dipping sauce; larb moo, a salad of minced pork in a dressing of lime juice and chilies; and tom sap, a hot and sour soup.

For many westerners, the idea of a salad is pretty simple, and usually revolves around lettuce and other veggies. But once you start exploring other culinary trends, you’ll find that ‘salad’ is a pretty broad term, and nowhere is that more evident than in Thailand. The Thais use a multitude of fresh ingredients to make up a large variety of dishes that technically qualify as salad. I’m a huge fan of all of these, and here are ten of my personal favorites.

I’m not ashamed to admit it. The first few times that I tried to order a bowl of kuay tiaw (noodle soup) in Thailand, I failed miserably. It’s not that I didn’t end up with a bowl of noodles. I just didn’t have the answers for all of the questions the vendor asked me. Who knew there were so many variables at play?

While it’s certainly not rocket science, your first trip to the local kuay tiaw stand can be intimating. So before you take your first plunge into Thailand’s favorite late-night snack, take a moment to review the formula. While the order of your selection doesn’t really make a difference, the following ingredients are listed in the order that most people choose them.